Several states, cities, and territories now prohibit employers from asking about salary history during the hiring process in order to help close the gender pay gap. Advocates argue that salary history questions reinforce unfair wages by preventing women from negotiating market rate salaries. Employers in affected areas should remove salary history questions from applications, retrain hiring staff, and focus compensation questions on the salary sought rather than past salaries. A bill proposed in Congress called the Paycheck Fairness Act would ban salary history inquiries nationwide if passed.

1. Can Employers Ask
About Salary History?

2. Increasingly,
the answer to
that question
is no.

3. Salary history questions are now
off limits in 4 states, 3 large cities
and 1 U.S. Territory.

4. California, Delaware, Massachusetts,
Oregon, Puerto Rico and New York
City, Albany and Philadelphia.

5. According to the National Conference of State
Legislatures, 22 other states are considering
similar measures.

6. One of the aims of this initiative is to
close the gender pay gap. Women
earned 79.6 cents for every dollar
men made in 2015 according to the
Census Bureau.

7. Advocates say
questions about salary
history reinforce unfair
wages. Revealing
current salary can
prevent women from
reaching market rate.

8. What Should Employers Do?

9. Take these steps if your company is
in an affected region:
• Remove questions about salary history
from your applications
• Retrain all employees involved in the
hiring process on how to discuss salary
• Paygrade open positions realistically
• If you have multiple locations, address
regional salary differences

10. Questions on compensation
should focus on what salary the
candidate is seeking, not what
they are currently making.

11. What Does This Mean for Job Seekers?
• You can voluntarily disclose your salary history.
• Voluntary disclosure must be made “without
prompting” of any kind from the employer.
• Decide whether providing salary history may
help your application or hurt it.
• Ask for the pay range for the position before
you provide your salary history.

12. If you make more than the range,
decide whether you should not apply
or if the opportunity might be worth
adjusting your salary expectations.

13. Are more changes on the way?
Currently, the list of states and cities impacted
is short, but it’s possible that other states will
soon follow suit.

14. The Paycheck Fairness Act has been
introduced in Congress that would strengthen
provisions in the Equal Pay Act of 1963.

15. This Act, if passed, bans employers from
asking about a job candidate’s pay history
during the interview process, and this would
cover EVERY state and municipality.

16. Interested in talking about how this
could impact your job search?
Contact Jacque Paige
Partner, Smith Hanley Associates
203-319-4310
jpaige@smithhanley.com